From 11-14 August, members of the ATN and other networks of civil society organisations (including trade unions, organisations of women, farmers, faith-based groups and non-governmental organisations) working on finance, trade, investment, economic development and climate change in Africa met at the 12 ATN Annual Review and Strategy Meeting in Accra, Ghana.The meeting discussed the current crises of the global economy and their implications for Africa’s development and adopted the following shared understandings and conclusions.

THE GLOBAL CRISIS AND AFRICA

The unprecedented global economic crises which have afflicted the whole world over the past two years have their origins in the advanced industrial economies of the West.They are rooted in the neo-liberal capitalist model aggressively promoted by corporate forces and allies over the past decades

While African countries bear little responsibility for these crises, they are suffering its worst effects, and they also lack the means for countering the immediate and inevitably longer term effects. There is no certainty as to how long it will take to recover from the crisis.

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) attending the 2009 Annual Review and Strategy Meeting of the Africa Trade Network (ATN) in Accra, have called for stimulus packages for domestic industries in order to put them on the path of industrialization.

The leaders of the CSOs, who spoke to CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE in various interviews yesterday at the opening of the meeting, emphasized the need for African governments to take their destinies into their own hands by providing incentives to support the domestic economy.

Since the global financial crisis started last year, various Developed countries such as the USA, Britain, Japan and Germany have provided stimulus packages and incentives for local banks and companies.

For instance, the US government provided an incentive package to General Motors, which employs many Americans in order to avert the company’s collapse.

Soren Ameron of Action Aid Kenya told this paper that prescriptions by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will not help African governments.

Recently, the IMF demanded some strict conditions for some loans that it approved for Ghana.

Ameron said: “We need African leaders to be more aggressive in questioning the basic financial economic policies from these Bretton Wood Institutions and we need to build our local industries.”

Tetteh Homeku, Programmes Manager of Third World Network, shared similar sentiments, adding “there were three broad areas that needed to be addressed and they include addressing trade and exports financing gaps, reviewing policies like the Economic Partnership Agreement, and refraining from pressures from the IMF and the World Bank.”

“Africa is peculiar to this crisis because of the structure of its economies, if the crisis stays for five years or more, we would have to create a proper industrial strategy,” Homeku reiterated.

Mr. Homeku further expressed dissatisfaction with policies of the World Bank and IMF, saying “it will not help the continent; this is not the time to talk about tightening spending and targeting inflational framework.”

He also chastised the World Bank for not lowering its interest rate, thus denying businesses and individuals from borrowing from the bank.”

Rangarirai Machemedze from Zimbabwe also called on local governments to support the domestic capacities of industries in order to make them more competitive, adding that agriculture needed more support.

He also called for the diversification of commodities and to add value to various products.

Accra, Aug. 10, GNA - The 2009 Annual Review and Strategy Meeting of the Africa Trade Network (ATN) opens in Accra on Tuesday, August 11, to discuss the impact of the global economic crises on Africa and to enable civil society come out with appropriate responses in their campaigns to deal with the crisis.

The four-day conference to be held between August 11-14 will explore the implications of the global crises on food, energy, finance, trade and production and chart a framework within which on-going African civil society advocacy and campaigns on the EPAs, WTO, debt, resource extraction and other economic policy concerns can be situated.

The meeting brings together members of the ATN and other networks of civil society organisations working on finance, trade, investment and economic development in Africa to discuss and develop shared positions on the current crises of the global economy and their implications for Africa's development.

A statement in Accra said the global financial and economic crisis had exposed the weak nature of African economies within the global system as shown in the dependence on few export primary commodities thus undermining economic activity in most countries.